The Rivanna Rambler

May 15, 2008

This show originally aired on May 15, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

 

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The community water supply plan that is under question has been permitted, as it must be, by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on February 11, 2008. That plan was approved unanimously by the City Council and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in 2006.

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April 10, 2008

 

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This show originally aired on April 10, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

Photo of shadbush by Dudley Rochester.

This is one of those weeks that you can literally watch the hourly changes as spring bursts forth. It’s hard to know where to put your attention, amidst all the flowering trees – the dogwoods blooming on cue for the Festival, the audacious magenta flowering crabapple, redbud blossoms lining dark branches in perfect counterpoint, like tiny purple Christmas lights.

In this area, if spring seems to be moving too fast, you can always travel to a higher elevation and catch it again. If I were headed to the hills, the one tree I’d still be looking for is the serviceberry, whose white showy flowers have always been a reliable marker of spring, but pass so quickly that you may have only a few days before the wind snatches them from the bud and soft green leaves unfurl in their place.

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Environmental educators are pushing legislation called “No Child Left Inisde” to promote outdoor, experiential time in nature to help combat what is now being called “Nature Deficit Disorder.” But it does not take just special programs in school to help get kids outside and enjoying the wonders of nature: simply inviting a young friend to the woods or the stream will yield great rewards for both of you.

 

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This show originally aired on April 3, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

I have promised my six-year old friend that our time together this afternoon will involve “water,” so Aibek arrives at my house with boots that reach almost to his knees, a change of clothes, drinking water, and a snack. We are ready!

We walk through the neighborhood, where many of the backyards lean down towards small creeks that are headed, like us, towards Greenleaf Park.

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This show originally aired on March 6, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

 

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March 6, 2008

It’s a whirlwind geologic tour of the Virginia, and it all takes place within five square miles in Charlottesville. We’re a group of Rivanna Master Naturalists, standing before a rock outcrop that borders the rough boat launch into Ivy Creek just upstream of the Woodlands Road bridge. Tom Biggs, Professor of Geology at UVA, invites us to use the rock hammers he’s brought along, stepping forward himself to take a swing. A chunk of rock cleaves off, dropping into his practiced hand.

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This show originally aired on February 28, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

 

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February 28, 2007

I am a reluctant gardener. The seasons conspire against me here in Central Virginia. In the winter, when I should be planning the vegetable garden, pruning shrubs, and tidying the lawn, I crave the quiet of indoors where I hibernate, in between bursts of outdoor activities that take me into the woods or by the river or to the tops of the ridges. Much the same happens to me in the springtime rush, a time of not enough time – when I am called by the waters to paddle rivers bursting with green while the weather is still tolerable. For sure, when spring emerges, I do spend a few days tethered to lawn and plants – affirming my environmental responsibility to this City acre and my good fortune for having land at all. Summer, when vegetables want thinning and harvesting and weeds go to seed, I’m retreating to any place removed from heaviness of the humidity. By the time fall rolls around, I vainly try to make up for lost time, tidying and raking in anticipation of the winter.

This is a roundabout way of saying that I have not yet done anything about the invasive plants in my yard

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